Kids like to play right outside our front door. I like to think it’s because they want to hang out close to me. But Monica says it’s because there is a basketball court about 20 feet from our front door. During the winter the snow is high enough for them to reach the rim and hang off of it. They will also knock on our door and ask, “Can we visit?” But their definition and my definition of visit are different. Their definition of visit is a verb: to actively ask for candy, pop, or cake: to actively ask when I obtained every personal item in the house. Every. Single. Piece. It almost becomes an interrogation.
My definition of visit is also a verb: to quietly sit and listen to me tell about my brave battles fought in the Navy and my heroic efforts on the sports fields. Every. Single. Story. It almost becomes a lecture.
But yesterday morning we had an unexpected visitor at our door. It was a census worker. And her visit was much like the kids’ visits, only she didn’t ask for anything to eat. A lot of questions were asked. Mostly by Monica and I. Our first question was, “Are you lost?” Our next question was, “Are you sure?” Our third question was, “Seriously, are you lost?” She convinced us she was at the correct house and began to ask the standard questions. Although I’m not sure if “Would you please put some pants on?” is a standard question, but hey, she had the good sense to ask.
If the government sends someone out here to get information, I guess they’re serious. After the census worker left, Monica and I were talking about what that job would be like. She told us (during our question session) she was from SE Alaska, which is about 1,200 miles away from here. Not only is she far from home, she’s traipsing out here in villages all on her own. She told us about difficulties in getting transportation in the villages. Also getting from village to village is very dependant on the weather. Since there are no hotels out in these villages, she gets stuck staying at schools out here. She was scheduled to leave yesterday afternoon on a plane. The weather is clear, so I’m confidant that she made it out. It’s still cold, we’re still below zero at night, but it’s been clear and beautiful today.
Last night we almost had a disaster at our home. While cleaning out our coffee pot, we accidently got the electronic controller wet. When that happens, it stops working. Coffee is one of the most important things in my life. I get up at 5am every weekday morning. I do this so I have enough time to drink two big mugs of coffee before going to work. Some people get up early to exercise. I get up early so I have enough time to drink coffee. So, without the coffeepot working, I would have no reason to get out of bed. Since going to the local Wal-Mart is out of the question, we would have to wait for Amazon to ship us a replacement. Luckily, after it dried out it worked again. Disaster averted. This did force me to order a new one for a back-up. I am not going to live through that terror again.
We’re heading up river today for some groceries. It’s more for the ride, but we’ll get some groceries since we’re going to be there anyways. Not a cloud in the sky so Monica should get some good pictures. Hopefully there won’t be any kids out front playing, forcing me to drive them away with a few new stories. Maybe they want to hear about the time I…
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